5 Amazing Music Business Ideas for Music Lovers

Once I was taking part in a coaching workshop with Bsc students in one professional school in Douala. I was telling them how easy it is to get a business idea since this was their greatest difficulty after finance. Talking about finance, I told them you don’t need finance to start a business. They were dumbfounded and said how do you start a business without money (it’s possible though, but let’s leave that for another day)?

However, I made them to understand that the first stage of starting a business is getting a business idea. Finance comes only after there is an idea. You cannot finance what you don’t have an idea of. Let’s go back to my story.

In this workshop, I planned to help them get business ideas from their passion. I am one of those entrepreneurs who believe the easiest way to get a good business idea is by turning your passion into business. If you love what you do, there is a great chance that you will succeed if you base your business ideas on your interests.

It was the turn of this girl, Paulina. She said she loves listening to good music, can sing but doesn’t want to be a musician. In fact she adores music and we had to use her love for music to create a fantastic business venture.

We now had the task of identifying the various business concepts that a music lover who is not a singer can engage in. Getting a business started is not just an easy thing. It takes a lot of determination and passion to get right.

To begin with, you need to get the right concept for your business and do a research in that area. Below are 5 awesome music business ideas we came out with for someone who loves music, but can’t or doesn’t want to sing. We are going to do it in an organized manner that fits into Paulina’s vision.

Music Review Site

Just that you know, Paulina is a good communicator. The first of the music business ideas we thought she could start her career with was starting a music review site (blog). Music promotion online is something that is becoming wildly popular in Africa today. Pauline as well as anyone who knows a great deal about music, especially new music can start a blog that reviews records and gigs.

If your reviews are loved by your audience, they will read and share all the time. You can make a sustainable income from gaining an online following. If your blog or publication becomes large enough, you can sell it to a media group and it can fetch you millions.

Music Promotion

Maybe you don’t like the above idea, you sold out your blog to a media group, or you just want to grow your business, but staying within the niche. Let’s consider you are still keeping your business and just wish to grow. Since you already have a great following, you can go in for music promotion.

When artists release their gigs, they need a promoter to help them gain an audience and be recognized. If you really are interested in the music business, you can make some money out of this. Approach unsigned bands or artists and ask them if they need promotion. Your job will be to make sure the artist or band get the gigs and contracts. In the long run, you can decide to expand your business into a music promotion company.

Podcasting or Vlog

You must have heard about podcasting or Vlogging. If you are that creative type, making podcasts could be ideal for you. With podcasts, you need to focus on a specific theme in each of your shows. Don’t go talking about music in general. Choose a niche market and specialize on it.

This applies to video bloggin (vlogging). This is a form of blogging using videos or in the form of a web television. Music entries are recorded and cut into multiple parts embedded with text and images. You can make videos about music sharing your opinions and view points and uploading them on your YouTube channel. You can make money from it if you have a dedicated following. It can be a medium for you to advertise or promote the other music business ideas that you are in.

Considering that you are not a good communicator or maybe you are already doing the above two and you want to expand your business – let’s take the latter. You already have a platform, review site and you do music promo. This means you can as well start a shop on your promo site to sell music online.

The e-commerce sector is becoming very popular in Africa right now. With your success in music promo and review, this means you have a means of getting many record collections. You can setup an online shop where you could start selling music online and make some profits. Make sure every transaction you carry out is legitimate. Use your review site, podcast or vlog to promote your online music store.

Musical Concerts or Festivals

You already have a great foundation in the music promotion and sales business. This means you can go further to grow your business. Why not organize a music festival or even concerts. Carrying out the above means you already are in touch with some fantastic artists or bands. This means you could launch a music festival. However, this needs exceptional organizational skills if you really want this business idea to work in the long run.

With this in hand, you will need to sign up some bands or artists to play at the festival. Don’t forget you may be needing money upfront to pay the artists. You can use your review site and other media to promote the festival so as to sell tickets.

The list of music business ideas doesn’t end here: you can start an (unofficial) fan page for a band or artist of your choice, start a music academy to teach music, and many others. Any of the music business ideas you choose, you will have to work hard at it. Just your passion will be a motivating factor as you carry on. Don’t be afraid of trying new things as well as you should not be afraid of failing. The fear of failure is the beginning of failure. To me, failure is the first step to success and the only thing that is worse than failure is by never trying at all.